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The Lord's Compassion

From the Bhakti List Archives

MR MOHAN R SAGAR • October 25, 1996 


Mr. Sudarshan writes:

It appears to me then that "anukampa" simply outshadows the other 
synonyms
on the basis of the degree of superlativeness invoked.

Such extreme distress caused by compassion seems to have been 
exhibited by
the Lord, in my opinion, only in the events related to Gajendra and 
Prahlada
where the most dramatic appearances of Sriman Narayana in Hindu faith 
were
made, in my opinion.The Lord LakshmiNrusumhan was driven to paroxysms 
of
divine rage and yet,can you imagine? how ironic it was caused by an 
emotion
that was the very antithesis of "rage" i.e. compassion to the "n-th" 
degree
that Prahalada could command !

On a ten point scale thus I would give "anukampa" a score of perfect 
10. 

The other synonyms in my opinion like daya,karuna or krupa or even 
kshama
seem wooden in comparison to anukampa. These would befit the emotions,

perhaps, the Lord felt when granting asylum to Vibheeshana or 
forgiving
Kakasuran or blessing Ahalya or protecting the Pandavas or bestowing 
favours
on His "buddy" (you Americans have nice expressions, indeed!) Sri 
Kuchela.
Anyone disagrees? 
-------------------------------------------end quote

I am not versed enough in Sanskrit to examine the meanings of the 
above mentioned words in detail.  However, I would like to comment on 
the intent of this discussion to compare or rank the various levels 
of Compassion of the Lord.  From my limited understanding,, the 
Lord's Compassion is on the "scale of 10" for all souls, from such 
notable Prapannas as mentioned above to even the asuras (remember the 
Lord's statement to Sugriva that He would even bestow His Grace on 
Ravana himself?).  While it is obvious that the Lord's expression of 
such is varied in each of the situations described above, I think 
this would be based more on the specific circumstances rather than on 
presumed partialities.

This does raise the question: if the Lord feels such a level of 
Compassion, why are not all souls saved?  As is suggested by the 
Srirangam School, it is because of the ego, which deludes the cetanas 
into being unaware of or even rejecting His Grace.

Daasanu Daasan,

Mohan